TITLE:
Emersonian Self-Reliance and Inherent Contradictions in American Business Management
AUTHORS:
Ross A. Jackson
KEYWORDS:
Authenticity, Autonomy, Conformity, Knowledge, Freedom, Philosophy, Resignation, Transcendentalism, Organizational Theory
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.13 No.3,
August
4,
2023
ABSTRACT: Business management within the United States of America contains unacknowledged, inherent contradictions that constrain individual and collective action, and form barriers against the development of authenticity and solidarity within organizations. The Emersonian themes of conformity, consistency, and knowledge, as developed in his 1841 essay Self-Reliance, were used as constructive points of philosophical inquiry around which to interrogate the theory and praxis of current American business management. The need for such an examination of management is observable in recent social phenomena. Specifically, the great resignation was explored as a potential representative response to dealing with the contradictions between management as currently practiced within the United States and the existential needs of those subjugated by and to its praxis. Philosophy emerges as an effective way to assess the degree to which organizations can achieve their emancipatory potential using the current theory and praxis of business management.